Page 71 of Emperor of Corruption
“You call me an ant.”
“That’s because you are. You’re an ant in the working colony, but you could beso much more.”
My brows touch. “What else could I possibly be?”
He gazes so deep into my eyes I feel stripped down to my soul. “Mine.”
He flinches as soon as he says the word, then abruptly turns around, giving me his back. He pushes a hand through his hair, shakes his head, and paces the length of the bathroom a few times, muttering something incoherent under his breath.
I watch with a mounting sense of trepidation, feeling more and more like I’ve gotten myself into something I won’t get out of.
Killian fucks me without a condom—often.
He arouses me in a way I’ve never been aroused, even though I’ll die before admitting it.
He blackmails me. He calls me out of the blue. He’s admitted to desiring more time with me, even if begrudgingly.
He’s cruel, he’s callous, he might as well be the emperor of corruption… but he’s also human.
He’s a beast and a man. A perfect mix of the two. Killian King is a blend of science, philosophy, and artistry so remarkable it’s reminiscent of DaVinci’sVitruvian Man.
And I’m starting to get worried that the beast or the man—or worse,both—might be starting to form some sort of… attachment to me.
The thought undeniably thrills me. Not because I have any intent or much desire to spend additional time with Killian, but because he takes such pleasure in reminding me of just how far beneath him I am, yet he wants me.Hecallsme. It makes me feelsodamn powerful.
“Killian,” I say carefully, “this is all we’ll ever be. These eight weeks. All of the… depravity that’s occurred—that’s it. Right?”
He turns around to face me, eyes burning with something fierce—something that looks a lot likepossession.
“Don’t be silly,” he says flatly. “I’m just fucking you out of my system. I have no interest in you beyond the arrangement I’ve made and the temporary corner I’ve forced you into. When I’m done, I’ll discard you like a pair of old shoes.”
Something in my chest twists at that, and the pain in my abdomen reaches a fever pitch that makes me gasp. Killian’s jaw ticks. “Take a shower,” he says. “Clean yourself up. You’re filthy.”
He strides to the door. Pauses. Turns his head over his shoulder to throw me a dark, cruel glance. “You’refilth.”
The words are agony, because I’m starting to care about what he thinks. I look forward to his feedback on my novel. I eagerly anticipate each new batch of pages I send him, even when he makes it his business to tear them apart.
With that final, searing insult, he leaves, shutting the bathroom door behind him. I flinch as it slams.
I’m not sure if he called me filth to remind me… or to remindhimself.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Killian
Locke takes me to the warehouse district, about half an hour outside the city, where I have a few warehouses that I use for different purposes.
The purpose of one of them is to take care of loose ends, and get information out of people reluctant to give it.
Locke killed one of Lyra’s muggers, but he kept the other alive, and I have quite a bit of anger and pent-up tension to work out. Usually, I leave matters like this to Locke, but what happened tonight feels like a personal sleight.
For the time being, Lyra belongs to me. I’m the only one allowed to touch her, tohurther. She’s mine to look at, fuck, and punish. The very idea of someone else doing so is abhorrent.
It’s not because I care about her; I don’t. Ican’t. As offended as she was in the apartment, everything I said was a statement of fact—apart from the moment where I nearly lost my mind and proposed that she could be mine. Sheisa working ant in the colony, with potential to be so much more. Sheisfilth compared to me.
She is what I once was; young, naïve, poor, and easy to take advantage of. I’m well aware that she’s not pinching pennies to make ends meet, but the numbers in her bank account are a fraction of what I keep in my checking’s to cover my monthly expenses. Compared to me, sheisfilth.
So why thefuckcan’t I get her out of my head?
